CM promises early grounding of ‘Polavaram’

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy waving to people at a public meeting organised in Gudimetla after dedicating the second phase of Gudimetla Lift Irrigation Scheme to the people. Also seen is Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal. Photo: CH.Vijaya Bhaskar.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has expressed optimism over early grounding of Polavaram project as a couple of pending permissions are likely to come through soon.

Inaugurating the Rs.48-crore Gudimetla Lift Irrigation Scheme here on Sunday, the Chief Minister said that it would directly benfit farmers in 7.2 lakh acres and stabilise 23-lakh acre existing ayacut.

With continuous monitoring of irrigation projects implementation 30 lakh acres would be brought under irrigation by June 2014, the Chief Minister said.

"In this project of national importance if 80 tmc of water is drawn from Godavari, 40 tmc will be utilised bu Andhra Pradesh, 20 tmc by Karnataka, 14 tmc by Maharashtra, 5 tmc by Odisha, 1.5 tmc by Chattisgarh," Mr. Reddy added.

Of 40 tmc 20 tmc would go to irrigate lands in Telangana and Rayalaseema, he observed.

Reacting to demand from local TDP MLA Tangirala Prabhakar and local people, the Chief Minister promised to sanction the Gudimetla 3rd Lift Irragation project at a cost of Rs.50 crore.

Survey

He also promised the people to get a survey done for construction of bridges across River Krishna at Gudimetla and Amaravathi to help people cross over from Krishna to Guntur district along with a 6 km road from Gudimetla to Chandralapadu.

The State Government was offering Rs.1,500 per quintal of paddy, but recent export of 40 lakh metric tonnes had helped farmers fetch Rs.2,100 per quintal at many places, Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy said.

Minor Irrigation Minister T G Venkatesh gave call to people entire State to remain united to achieve development.

"The Chief Minister is solving all the problems in Telangana in such a way that people will forget demand for a separate state," he said.

He said that a farmer training centre would be established at Vijayawada very soon. Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, Secondary Education Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy, District Collector Buddha Prakash M. Jyothi, Joint Collector P. Usha Kumari and Sub-collector Harichandana were also present.

Slideshow

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) organised a mock demonstration on ways to rescue people drowning in River Krishna in the presence of its Director General O.P. Singh at Seethanagaram in Guntur District on Tuesday. The Hindu photographer V. Raju captures the action.